If you love large air CPU coolers, then you will drool over the 9700LED. It's equipped with a 110mm fan, while it's older brother, the 9500LED, has only 92mm. Included extras here include better thermal paste and a fan controller. Does this CPU coolers larger stature make it a winner in our temperature testing?

You can read the full review here and discuss it in this thread when done!

Also, have you tried using it without the included fan controller? I heard theres some messed up resisters in there and the "high speed" setting actually has 10-15% less RPM than having the fan be plugged in directly without the controller.

The fan controller is actually a voltage regulator whose output is varied by a voltage divider circuit off the output of the regulator. Its maximum output is about 10.5 volts in this configuration. Nothing about the design is 'messed up' -- it's just a limitation of the voltage regulator component in that particular circuit design. Zalman originally got its start producing components for the quiet-computing market, so that's why they include the fan controller. With all that extra heatsink area and fan diameter, the fan can run at a very low speed and still support a modest overclock.

Also, have you tried using it without the included fan controller? I heard theres some messed up resisters in there and the "high speed" setting actually has 10-15% less RPM than having the fan be plugged in directly without the controller.

Yes I did... but I didn't notice anything like that happening. It's not in the PC anymore (this was actually all done early last month) but I will be hooking it up again later this week to see if anything like that happens.

It's a sweet cooler. It's virtue of blowing right out the rear case fan has lowered temperatures everywhere. I've compared the thermal nail polish to AS5, and their performance is TIED. It's almost like having a water block, but not quite that good.

I just installed the 9700 LED on my AM2 X2 6000+
It really didn't seem that heavy to cause any mobo strain.

Mounted really easy also.
I use the fan control mounted on the back with an existing screw
My temps seem high at 101*F with the Asus Probe II
The other AMD CPU runs at 68*F depending on room temp ( air cooled also with stock ( 939 CPU ) cooler

I've had a tough time installing this cooler on my new motherboard (EVGA nForce 780i).

To start with, the back support brack is a bear to get screwed in correctly. It took me over an hour to get the correct combination of screw tensions to allow all the mounting holes to line up well enough to screw the thing together.

After that, the bracket that holds the cooler itself seems far to curved to safely screw into place without putting undue pressure on the CPU.

I've had a tough time installing this cooler on my new motherboard (EVGA nForce 780i).

To start with, the back support brack is a bear to get screwed in correctly. It took me over an hour to get the correct combination of screw tensions to allow all the mounting holes to line up well enough to screw the thing together.

After that, the bracket that holds the cooler itself seems far to curved to safely screw into place without putting undue pressure on the CPU.

Is there a guide to installing these?

Not much to it, just start the first scew a little, then attatch the 2nd one.